Digging Roots
by Tess 4 5
Summary: A hot summer, something that had gone not quite the way Lynley had planned, and two helpful friends. It promises a lot of work but certainly also a lot of fun.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the original characters nor the original Inspector Lynley Mysteries – they belong to Elizabeth George and the BBC. I have borrowed the characters from the TV-Show and I only own the ideas of _my_ stories and the developments _I_ let them go through.

Please write a **P** rivate **M** essage if I did something terribly wrong so I can fix it. Thanks!

Please read and review! More thanks!

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 **A/N + summary:** Here's the first chapter, now stop nagging, Cats. And please try to keep quiet because I can't post one chapter per day.

A hot summer, something that had gone not quite the way Lynley had planned, and two helpful friends. It promises a lot of work but certainly also a lot of fun.

This one is inspired by real life. Enjoy...

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 **Digging Roots**

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"Yes! Yes, of course!" DI Tommy Lynley grumbled loud and very angry into his mobile phone while he walked into the Met's office in the homicide division one summer morning. It was the office of the best team of that division. It was his team. "I _told_ you! ... Yes, I did! It's in the contract!"

Coming past the desk of Sergeant Barbara Havers he nodded and rolled his eyes in his own special way indicating that he obviously spoke to an idiot. Constable Nkata was sitting right next to her drinking an ice cold water. "Why should I've given you... yes... yes, I'll wait." Lynley, dressed in a suit of course although it was hot these days, muffled his phone on his shoulder and quietly addressed his closest team members so the person on the other end of the line would not hear him. "In my office? Ten minutes. Thank you." A voice was heard from his chest and he spoke to his phone again. "Sorry, can you repeat that? ... What?!" His voice pitched with disbelief. "Are you joking?

The door to his office fell into its lock. Barbara Havers looked at DC Winston Nkata who was similarly suppressing a grin. They had no clue what that conversation was about but their boss had not appeared overly amused to them.

* * *

Ten minutes later, fourteen that is, because they thought Lynley could do with a few minutes more to calm down, the two Detectives knocked at his office door and were called inside. It was distinctively cooler in here with his new air condition. The old one in the main office almost had no effect at all and all the officers there had been sweating for days. It was no wonder that Barbara had tried to spend as many moments in here as were justifiable. It had been a nice week of close work with the DI.

Now DS Havers and DC Nkata were informed by their DI that the whole team had to take part in some first aid course after the weekend and then they went through the details of some other unloved refresher courses they would have to attend until the end of the year.

Barbara made no attempt to hide her dislike and loudly groaned when she made her calendar entries.

"Any objections, Havers?" her boss asked with a cocked head and raised eyebrows, that certain expression she secretly loved but deeply hated when it was meant for her. Precautionally Nkata had kept his head down. He would not want to feel the boss' anger. Who knew what that phone call had been about.

"No, Sir, I'm fine with it." Her frown was only thinly disguised by a polite smile and Lynley saw right through it. He knowingly smiled and nodded.

"Good. Mmh..." he skimmed his notes and then looked up again. "There's nothing else for today so you can catch up with paper works, Detectives. While I'll try to find a new gardener as soon as possible." Lynley groaned in the end.

* * *

"A new gardener, Sir?" Winston asked. In the next second he bit his tongue. Lynley's slightly foul mood surely had something to do with his earlier phone call and Nkata simply was curious. And he did not want to return to his desk too soon. A little chat in the cooler office would be nice. Lynley bit.

"A gardening company, to be precise." The DI leant back in his chair and groaned annoyed. "The one I've hired only did half of the work and now has no time to do the rest. Only some time later in the year."

Barbara raised a quizzical eyebrow. It was a mimicked expression she had taken over from _him_ , Winston knew, and it always amused him very much when he saw her making it.

Lynley explained a bit more. "You know that huge cluster of trees and bushes in the back of my garden?"

"At the wall?" Barbara asked while the Constable only shrugged. He certainly never had inspected Lynley's garden. Barbara obviously had.

"Exactly. The shrubs with the enormous rose bush covering parts of it."

Out of the blue and with no real reason he had brought her an armful of these roses when they had been in full bloom last year. How could she forget that, so how could she not know that plant. Nkata just wondered why the Sergeant suddenly was blushing. He did not know of the rose bush nor had he any knowledge of Lynley's sweet gesture.

* * *

"Well..." the DI went on. "I've engaged a company to rip it off, and-"

"No!" Barbara exclaimed with big shocked eyes. "The beautiful rose too?"

Lynley smiled. "I've rescued that one of course and transplanted it to the side. There's more sun anyway. There's also more space for it and I know it will do her good. The rose will grow bigger and even more beautiful that way."

Barbara sighed in relief and Lynley's smile towards her turned even more affectionate in a way that made DC Nkata wish he was not in the room. Not that he thought they knew he still was there. They tend to forget about other people sometimes when they had one of their conversations. This one was rather harmless but that certain thing between his superiors was weird and sweet all at once. Sometimes Winston just wanted to bang their heads together. How could two people be so blind not to see that they loved each other. He subtly shook his head about these two here.

"Well, apparently I should have _clearly_ told that company to dig out the roots too. I thought it was part of the contract when I asked them to remove the shrubbery. But they just cut it off and left. And now the back of the garden is useless wasteland and the company is fully booked for the rest of the summer."

"You could let the roots rot for a while before you engage them again, Sir." Nkata suggested.

DI Lynley finally turned his head to the Constable. "I'd happily do that, Winston, but unfortunately I don't have the time. On Tuesday next week another company is engaged to build a new pavilion there. I need the roots out of the ground or the delay will cost me a fortune."

Barbara's eyebrows went up again and this time Winston had to hide his grin behind his hands. He pretended to cough.

"You could do it on your own, Sir." Barbara suggested. "Have a nice workout over the weekend. It's nice and warm, you'd be in fresh air..."

"Oh, I so had hoped you'd say that, Barbara. I'm entirely glad you offered your help." Lynley cheekily grinned. "There are a lot of roots in the ground."

"Yes, Barbara." Nkata chimed in. He still was feeling a bit superfluous and actually he never let these opportunities to tease her slip. "You're _so_ very kind."

She glared at both men. Actually she had made other plans. Plans that had something to do with very few clothes, no contact with any public, a sixer of cool beer, the sofa and the telly.

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"Oh, of course." she syrupy answered. "How could I resist the prospect of helping you both doing something earthly like garden work. You've said you'll pick me up at 8 tomorrow morning, Winnie? How _very_ thoughtful of you."

"Umm..." Nkata's expression was priceless. Now he was in the game.

"Good. Then it's settled." Lynley quickly stated before they could escape. "Tomorrow morning, at about 8:30, lunch and snacks and lemonade will be provided. Thank you very much."

He broadly grinned. This was killing two birds with one stone - four hands more to help him with the roots that were left in his garden and spending time with his dear friend Barbara. It would become a very nice weekend, he thought. And maybe he could convince her to stay for dinner. "Now about that last bit of paperwork to be done here..."

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	2. Chapter 2

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In the next morning Barbara got up early. After a nice shower and a coffee she grabbed some working gloves she found in her tool box and her heavy walking boots. It would become hot in them, she thought aching to just slip into her light sandals instead. Clad in old cut off jeans and a similarly old T-shirt sprinkled with white and green dots of paint she waited for her colleague Winston while she sipped a second coffee. The weather forecast had announced a hot day and she already regretted having agreed on that stupid idea to help with gardenwork on a day like this. She could as well have stayed in her cool flat and enjoyed soft drinks or maybe later a cold beer and the fact that she already had done all necessary things yesterday. Unfortunately Winston had no mercy and rang her bell almost in time to pick her up.

He was in an unbearably good mood on the way to their boss. Annoying little early bird, Barbara thought. Constantly teasing her for the shabby shorts that revealed her knees and talking all the way from her flat to Belgravia he was on the verge of getting stabbed by her for his annoyance. Barbara only gave little signs that she actually was there in the car with him.

They arrived shortly before 9 o'clock. Lynley was prepared and seemed to have waited behind the curtains to let them in. He was as joyful as Nkata was. He wore a light grey T-shirt with reflecting stripes at the ironed sleeves and brand new work shorts which also looked as if they were bought at the DIY shop yesterday. Barbara almost expected the price tag to be still dangling at its rear pocket. Clean work boots made of leather completed his perfect appearance. While they all exchanged their greetings in the hallway Lynley and Barbara secretly sized each other up and so Winston began to feel slightly uncomfortable and very superfluous. He also thought that Lynley surely had muscular calves and that Barbara certainly had nice knees but he was not staring at them with red ears, was he.

"Okay." he said when the DI had finished thanking them in advance one more time. If there would have been long sleeves at his old shirt Winston would have rolled them up now. "Where's the wasteland, Sir?"

In his opinion they should start as soon as possible to get it done.

* * *

Lynley led them onto his veranda where three spades and a pickaxe already waiting for them leant against the balustrade and on the lawn a flashing new wheelbarrow, eagerly shining in the morning sun, looked forward to its first use ever.

"Wow, that's a huge garden, Sir!" the Constable marvelled. He had only ever made it into Lynley's hallway when he had to pick him up one day but he never would have thought that there was such a huge area behind the house. "Barb, you could've said it's the size of a football ground!"

"It isn't anywhere near, Winnie." Barbara rolled her eyes. Nkata grinned and she slightly blushed. It was not that she had not been visiting their boss unusually often in the recent months for a pint or a coffee and even for dinner one time. Although the latter had just happened because they had gone through files in his study one afternoon and had forgotten about the time. It had been extraordinarily cosy though. She never had told him but Winnie apparently knew. Or at least he suspected something. Feeling both men's eyes on her she quickly went on speaking. "But it _is_ huge indeed, all the more without that shrubbery-monster in the back. There's quite a lot of new space over there."

Lynley chuckled. "I'm glad it's gone now. It's already been here when I've bought the house. And that's quite some time ago. You can imagine that there are a lot of roots in the earth by now." In a few words he told his colleagues that during the previous night he had given thought to the strategy for the day. "I'd like to try to save as much topsoil as possible, so please fill that wheelbarrow with what you grub out and bring it here onto the foil. I'll sieve it later. The twigs and branches and roots we'll be going to pile up there. I hope they'll make nice logs when they're completely dried. And-"

"Sir, can I have another coffee, please?" Barbara muttered interruptively and earned a raised eyebrow from her boss before he slightly leant forward.

"As I was about to say, Sergeant Havers..." Tommy grinned and made an invitating gesture towards the small side table on the veranda she had not spotted before. "And if you want coffee you'll find it there. Cold drinks are in the fridge in the kitchen. Feel free to loot it."

"Shouldn't we take care that your expensive parquet flooring won't be damaged by sand or stones from the soles of our boots, Sir?"

"You're quite right, Nkata." For a while Lynley was thinking. "Good. You'll get yourself a coffee and I'll roll out some of that black foil in the living room."

* * *

After the delicate wood of his floor was covered and Barbara had drunk another cup of coffee they finally started digging. Although it was quite hard work digging and cutting and ripping roots out of the ground they had a lot of fun together. Four hours went by in no time. The sun had climbed higher and higher on her way towards noon and it turned warm and warmer and so when the doorbell rang at about one o'clock and some posh delivery service brought boxes with cool fresh salad with shrimps and poultry and fruit for dessert it was a very welcomed break for all of them.

Afterwards the amateur gardeners relaxed in the shadow of the huge chestnut tree on the opposite side to a new plot with a rather shredded looking rose plant. Some time during this summer Lynley had carried the teak wood table under the tree and around it the three exhausted people were lounging about on comfortable deck chairs after lunch. Nothing of the mass of vegetables and fruits was left over.

With a sigh the Constable had closed his eyes pretending to take a nap.

In fact Winston had not born anymore to see Lynley and Havers acting so intimately yet so distant. It had been tough to watch all these small sweet moments while they ate. Tommy had refilled her bowl without asking. Barbara had mixed his lemonade with a shot of still water before he could have said anything. He silently had handed her a napkin when she had needed one and she had given him the right salad dressing which he had wanted but he had not had to say a word. And when their fingers had brushed they had looked apologising but then they constantly had shot secret glances at each other, clearly yearning for a repetition of the glorious accidental touch that had made at least Barbara's fingers tremble.

It was really painful to watch them.

* * *

After a while Nkata had properly dozed off and he began to snore.

"He's got a new girlfriend." Barbara said fondly watching the sleeping frame of Nkata. "Joanna."

"Oh, really? Lucky man." Tommy briefly gave her a sad look but they looked away from each other quickly. For a while they both watched the grass growing. "He could have brought her here."

"Another pair of hands, huh?" Barbara softly laughed. "Oh, I don't know... She didn't appear to me as if she was the heavy gardening type."

"Well... she could have cared for the rose. It still has to be fixed. And pampered by gentle hands. Although you could as well take care of her later."

Watched by Lynley Barbara dreamily smiled at the haggard plant. "I'm so glad you've kept it."

"How could I've cut it off?" Something in his voice made her look at him.

Their eyes met and locked. After several seconds Barbara had to look away so she faked a yawn. She truly was tired but not too tired to be oblivious to the irritating expression in her boss' face. It was frightening because she read emotions she never would have expected nor would she allow herself to explore it any further. It was for the sake of her own sanity so she lifted her feet onto the seat, leant back and closed her eyes to escape his confusingly intense gaze. She felt as if for a second her barriers involuntarily had crushed down and that would not be of any good.

Barbara yawned, and this time it was in fact real. "Let's have a short rest, Sir."

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	3. Chapter 3

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When she woke again she felt that someone had tucked a pillow under her head while she had slept. She fondly smiled at the mental image how Tommy gently had lifted her head and made it more comfortable for her. In fact it was so comfortable on the deckchair that for the moment Barbara had no intention to get up at all. Lazy she just opened her eyes and looked where the men were. She saw them standing on the wasteland again, discussing how and where to go on. Barbara reached for the glass of lemonade and leant back again. She absolutely felt no need to hurry. In her opinion it was too warm for work anyway so why not just watch the others until they would remember there was another helper.

The two handsome gardeners already had dug out a few smaller roots so it was no wonder that they had begun to sweat in the midday sun. Winston looked rather good with all the little beads of sweat on his dark skin. He had pulled off his shirt a bit earlier and Lynley most certainly was about to follow suit. Barbara took a sip of her cool drink. She just would relax a little bit longer and enjoy the show that hopefully would unfold before her eyes.

Surely because they would not want to disturb her sleep the men were talking really quiet. Unlike in the morning when the three had had a lot of loud fun. Earlier she even had considered adressing Lynley by his given name seeing him so unbuttoned and happy. Barbara had enjoyed that today he was appearing so un-earlish. She lightly chuckled when, as if he had heard her thoughts and wanted to prove her wrong, he picked Winston's shirt from the grass, folded it and carefully hung it across a low branch of a small tree.

A glistening trickle of sweat ran down from his temple and across the side of his neck. Barbara grinned. By no means would he be able to keep his T-shirt on, she knew. He had to get off of it eventually. It was too damn hot. Even though she was sitting in the shade of the tree Barbara was able to feel the heat on her face.

Five minutes later Lynley stopped shoveling soil and wiped his face and neck with one of his crisp handkerchiefs that he had pulled out of the pockets of his now not so clean shorts. When he heavily thrusted his spade into the ground Barbara held her breath. Her hand with the glass of lemonade hovered in front of her chest and across its rim she stared at her boss grabbing the hem of his sweat soaked shirt.

"Mmh!" she quietly approved of the little visual treat she allowed herself.

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Due to the wet cloth sticking to his skin Lynley had some difficulties so he was only slowly getting rid of his shirt. The light grey jersey only slowly revealed his torso. First his belly was uncovered. The waistband of his work shorts was sitting rather low and provided the sight of some tendons and muscles that made Barbara swallow with a dry tongue. Different to Winston's body on Lynley's belly there was no muscular six pack at all but just less enough to tell he was doing some sports in his spare time.

And on the small patch of skin that was visible between his navel and the shorts there were some dark hairs igniting such naughty thoughts in Barbara's brain she had not expected at all. Quickly she had to take a sip. The lemonade, although not exactly cold anymore, almost steamed when it ran down her thirsty throat.

Losing balance on the uneven ground he stood on Lynley made a turning step and finally showed off his complete front to Barbara. She still had a firm grip around the glass but her eyes were fixed on his chest. Of course his skin did not have the chocolatey darkness like Winston's, who surely was a nice sight of its own, but he obviously had spent some days in the sun of this summer without a shirt. He was slightly bronze and looked rather healthy. Still the dark hairs on his inviting chest clearly could be made out.

His arms were lifted above his head but stuck in the sleeves and his face was hidden behind the jersey. If the sight of him undressing would not have spoken to her lower guts Barbara surely would have laughed out loud at what he was doing there rather clumsy. Only it was Tommy Lynley she was watching. She might have seen more of his naked body already but this was truly different. His arms were held high, his throat was revealed, his chest was covered with a damp sheath, his shapely upper arms were showing the play of his muscles and Barbara involuntarily crossed her legs. She was highly delighted of the striptease he made.

* * *

Winston grinned. Standing near the fence he had watched her all the time but now half-heartedly started digging again before Barbara would recognise his stare. He feared that she was about to look away from their boss because he finally had finished undressing his T-shirt.

He was wrong. Maybe Winston was having - in general - the better shaped body, or so he thought, but the eyes of the Sergeant were glued to the DI. Without a pause Barbara kept her eyes on Lynley who finally had managed to get out of the tight and sweaty wet T-shirt but now was wiping the wadded thing across his bare chest like a male model. Winston was not sure if he did that on purpose because he knew Barbara's eyes on him or if it was authentic but he could swear that her pupils dilated and that her eyes had darkened so he only hoped Lynley finally would look up to her and see it too. And finally understand. And all that before she crunched up the glass in her hand. Winnie chuckled and threw a small root out of his working range.

* * *

Unfortunately Lynley did not do him the favour of looking up. He just unfolded his T-shirt, shook it out, then went to the tree with Nkata's shirt and placed his own there so it could dry. Barbara pretended to be still sleeping but Winston knew she just quickly had placed her lemonade on the table again. Her eyes surely still were open just a crack so she would be able to see every move of the DI who had returned to the root-filled hole he was working at, still appearing oblivious of his audience. Several shovels full of soil later he stretched his spine and moved his shoulderblades back in a tension loosening manner. Grinning broadly Nkata decided that the weird sound he had heard coming from under the chestnut tree was an approving grunt from Barbara.

"She's still sleeping, huh?" Lynley quietly asked when he had heard Winston's short laugh. He had looked up, caught the Constable's stare and followed his eyes. Nkata only muttered something unintelligible or he would have had laughed out again. "Should we wake her up?"

Instead of giving an answer Nkata turned his face away from his boss.

"Barbara?" Still suppressing his laugh he called her. "Get off your lazy backside, leave that lounger and move! Help us here!"

"Ah, well..." the DI sighed. "I'd have used a different choice of words to wake her up, but it obviously worked."

"I'm comin'!" Barbara called and emptied her glass of lemonade already standing next to the comfortable seat.

The ambiguity that his naughty mind put into her words gave Winnie a horrible fit of coughs. Tomorrow he surely would leave them alone here. Maybe that would help them realise.

The hard work that followed during the rest of the afternoon definitely helped _him_ making the decision to stay away from Lynley's garden the next day.

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In the evening they realised that they had not completely finished clearing up the ground. Winston guessed it was a bit less than three quarters they had managed to dig through so they arranged to meet again on Sunday. Politely declining Lynley's invitation for dinner Barbara and the Constable left for their own homes to get some good night's rest.

"Fancy a pint?" Winnie asked before she hopped off his car. "I have a spare evening."

"Not at all. I'm so done and dusty, Winnie. It wasn't a joke earlier - I really just want a shower and a bed. But if you could give me a massage I'd appreciate that."

They both laughed. Winston had given a simple snort in reply to her suggestion. All that he really had wanted to say would have been useless or would bring him into deep trouble but he believed that if Barbara only had stayed in Belgravia she surely could have gotten all three things tonight.

And maybe even a little treat.

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	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Sorry for the extreme delay but real life sometimes just happens...

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On Sunday morning Barbara sat on a blanket on her sofa, fully dressed in the dirty clothes from the other day, a mug of strong coffee in her hands. Her feet in heavy boots were propped up on the coffee table, and she was watching the morning show when her mobile rang. It was shortly before 8:30 and the weather forecast just had told her that it would rain on Monday.

"Ah, brilliant..." she sarcastically murmured when she accepted the call. "Havers."

 _"Morning Barb."_

Barbara looked at the clock inserted at the top right of the TV screen. "Winnie! Where are you? It's about time!"

 _"I, umm... I'm not coming today."_ Winston told her that he unsuspectedly had no time today because something private had come up. Barbara could swear he was suppressing a laugh and the sounds in the background were that of another person and maybe also the rustling of a duvet. He surely was with Joanna at the moment. Barbara grinned and graciously dismissed him.

"I understand, Winnie. I understand very much. Don't bother, we'll handle it without you."

 _"Oh, I'm_ very _sure of that."_ He secretly snickered again, of that Barbara was very sure of and she blushed at the thoughts his insinuation made come up in her mind. _"See you later, Barbie!"_

"Winston, I told you not to- Winnie?" He had disconnected. The last thing she had heard was the beginning of laughter. It deeply amused her. "Ah, cheeky sod..."

* * *

When Barbara arrived a little later than the day before Lynley of course wondered where the Constable was.

"He's got 'something private coming up'." she explained winking.

"Meaning?" The confused expression on his face was priceless.

Barbara rolled her eyes. "He's with his new girlfriend and has skipped out on us. He's definitely got better things to do today than... rooting around." Her unconcealed naughty chuckle made him finally understand.

"Ah, okay." Tommy shrugged with a grin. "Well... more lemonade for us."

She nodded and looked away. Sharing the lemonade was her smallest problem. With his arm around her shoulder Lynley gently ushered her across the black foil carpet through the living room. His proximity and the privacy Nkata's absence offered them in general Barbara suddenly felt fear rising that the work in his garden would become a huge challenge for her self-control.

And the temperature this morning already was as hot as yesterday. Although three quarters of the area were almost cleared there still was a lot of work to do, not to mention these few problematically huge roots. Remembering her disturbing dreams last night about her boss undressing in the sun almost completely Barbara knew she would be entirely done this evening - physically and mentally.

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Right under the veranda a saw-horse stood next to a chopping block with a small axe. A few bigger roots already were cut into shorter pieces.

"I was in the mood to have a few workouts yesterday evening." Lynley explained seeing Barbara's quizzical expression. To her great relief he had let go of her shoulder before they descended the stairs. "When I got up today I almost couldn't move my arms."

"Yep. I also have horribly sore muscles."

With the back of his hand Lynley caressed her upper arm. Barbara almost jerked but as quick as his hand was there as quick he had withdrawn it. "And unfortunately I've ruined my old saw with all the sand at the wood. And it's still too wet anyway."

"Oh, no..." she mock pitied him but he only laughed.

"Ah, well, I'll have to buy a new one, I guess."

"Won't be a problem, Sir. I bet they already know you at the DIY store."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing, Sir." she snorted a laugh and tugged at the neon-yellow sleeve of his new T-shirt. She accidentally touched his skin with her fingers and the contact was surprisingly thrilling. For a second their eyes met but she quickly looked away and to the remaining part of the garden with roots. Her neck was flushed but still she smiled one of the cutest shy smiles he ever had seen.

She will never understand how beautiful she is, he thought. Then he shook his head in slight disbelief but with a grin. "Shall we start? Or do you need another coffee first?"

"Most certainly coffee." she laughed.

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After Barbara, watching with delight how he put the heavy saw-horse to the side, had strengthened herself with a mug of her beloved black brew they finally started. They dug into the ground and they pulled at roots together. Accidental contacts happened frequently and, although she thought it would eventually lessen during the morning, every time they touched it was a pleasure. They were not as foolish as they had been the day before when Winston still was with them but they were working hand in hand quite well and efficiently and understood each other without many words. One could expect that for colleagues who had been working so close together for a bit more than ten years but they extraordinarily enjoyed themselves. It still was hard work in the garden.

After a bit of digging, it was shortly before lunch time, the sun was high in the sky and the temperature had gone even higher, Lynley tossed away his spade and stomped across the lawn towards the already processed pieces of root wood.

"I need a distraction." he groaned annoyed. "From these bloody small roots."

"Have you just cursed, Sir?" Pushing her sweaty hair out of her face with the back of her dirty gloved hand Barbara looked up from these roots that could not be shoveled out of the ground but were too small and separate to pull them out in one go. She was kneeling on the ground there and Lynley had been working somewhere behind her. Barbara constantly had felt observed. She knew he definitely had seen too much of her bottom side and the T-shirt had revealed too much from her naked waist while she worked on the ground. Every two minutes she had to tug it down again.

"I'm not cursing, Barbara." Lynley turned and smiled because she had left a smear of soil on her forehead. He kept it to himself though. Instead he just harrumphed. "As I said, I need a distraction. I'll go and chop a bit of wood while you take care of the little ones here."

"I'm not, Sir!" With creaking bones Barbara got up from the ground. "I'm going to get distracted by that rose."

"Well, that's fair enough."

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It did not need a lot of time to fix the rose bush at the wooden grid at the wall, prune it a bit and slightly water it so Barbara soon returned to the annoying little roots. But she was not taking care of them for long. Eventually her eyes caught someone getting off of his shirt in the hot sun before he continued chopping wood. There was not a lot to be chopped but the axe was too small and too blunt for this task and so he had started to sweat harder in no time.

Barbara looked up and involuntarily licked her lips at the offered sight. Tommy's bare chest was fully covered in sweat and his muscles were temptingly moving when he raised the axe and let it fall down on the wood with force. Shocked about her physical reaction Barbara blushed and diverted her eyes to the ground and the pesty little roots near the drawn edge. Up to there the ground should be cleared from roots and if she had do it on her own it never would be finished today.

Lynley really could help her, she thought. She certainly understood that chopping the wood into pieces and stacking it neatly against the wall would provide more space on the lawn and that surely would be helpful when the other company would start building the pavilion next week. And he really was some sight to see, she admitted to herself while she watched him again. He surely had paid regular visits to the studio recently. His upper arms had just the right amount of strong tendons and slightly shaped muscles. Tommy certainly would be able to lift two big shepherd dogs, one with each arm, or-

"Sergeant Havers!"

Sergeant Havers jumped. She had been so engrossed in watching his muscles move, she had not even seen him looking at her nor had she realised that she had started to work slower.

"If you keep that low pace you'll have to keep on working throughout the entire night."

"Slavedriver!" She laughed although she blushed. Barbara dearly hoped he would not see it from the distance. Never taking her eyes from his she ripped out a fistful of roots ands threw it on the small pile in front of her. "You could help me here. How about that?"

He only grinned.

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With one last [THONCK] Tommy nailed the axe into the chopping-block. It was not really deep and his annoyance about it was voiced by a disaproving grunt. Walking to the chestnut tree he grabbed his shirt from the saw-horse. There he looked at the watch he had stored on the table.

"I think it's time for a lunch break, isn't it?" His voice was muffled because he was just putting on his shirt again. Barbara loudly sighed. He obviously had heard her according to the confused look he gave her. "Hm?"

"Oh, err..." Barbara covered the sound by gesturing that it had been strenuous to get up from the ground.

"I almost thought you would not want to eat." Tommy laughed. "I've asked them to come here earlier today."

"That posh delivery service?" Barbara asked. "With the cute young delivery boy?"

He looked hurt. "Oi!"

She only commented on that with laughter. Nobody ever could compare with her boss. His pensive smile towards her though made her laughter slowly die down on her way to the chestnut tree.

The ring of his door-bell rescued her from anything. If he would have kept the silent gaze for just a little bit longer she surely would have said something stupid to overplay her embarrassment in this strange situation.

"Sit down, M'lady, I'll serve you lunch in a bit."

Barbara could not help but blush.

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	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** The author would like to thank you for your continued support.

Have you seen that lately? Well, then **thank you very much** , it means a lot to me and it tells me that at least a few of the 100 to 150 visitors per chapter aren't just web crawlers and search engine bots but real people who read my stories and like them so much that they leave a note.

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The pile of roots had grown bigger during the morning and so had the hill of soil and when they paused for their lunch break there almost only were a few massive roots in the earth that needed special treatment. But it would have to wait until after lunch. The delivery service had brought a small cold buffet of tapas for two this time. It was delicious and as enjoyable as the lunchbreak the other day. Only this time Winston was not there to lead a jolly convesation. Barbara could not really say that it bothered her much. Somehow it was a very intimate lunch with only Tommy and Barbara, sitting on opposite sides of the table, but it was over before she had been able to gather enough courage to touch his hand deliberately although she painfully was aware of a lot of chances to do so. And the looks they had exchanged had spoken volumes. Barbara was sure Tommy enjoyed the break as much as she did. She was delighted but it also frightened her a bit.

* * *

"Hmmm. I'll keep the leftovers for dinner, I guess." Tommy leant back on his chair with a sated sigh after he had emptied his plate and pushed it away from himself with an expression telling how stuffed he was.

"We should set an alarm this time, Sir." Barbara suggested. She had made herself comfortable on the chair with the pillow again and now shamelessly yawned. Then she pointed with her chin towards the wasteland. "Or we'll fall asleep and never get that done."

"Good idea, Sergeant." he murmured with already closed eyes. "Oh, but Barbara?"

"Hm?"

"There's another thing I'd like to ask for."

"Hmmm?" Lazy she leant back and also closed her eyes. Whatever he would want it could wait until after a nice nap.

"If you won't call me Tommy from now on I won't stop calling you _Sergeant_ from now on."

"What?!" Barbara sounded slightly alarmed. She knew she could not do that. She could not start calling him by his name, not today, not any day. She was too endangered to lose her sanity already anyway. This entire project in his garden and what it brought with it - his disturbing but exciting proximity, their joyful but affectionate banter, the constant temptation every time she looked at him working. All that was strongly eating away at her nerves. She knew she was staring at him too often not to be recognised by him eventually. And not all of the accidental touches she longed for the entire time were as accidentally as they might have appeared. Barbara had to smile and did not try to hide it at all because she felt safe and knew he probably was still not looking anyway.

"I won't call you Barbara," Tommy explained. "nor Havers, not even _Miss_ Havers or Sergeant Havers. Just _Sergeant_."

"Sir..."

"My name is Tommy, Sergeant." DI Lynley lightly chuckled.

"Ah!" She groaned giving up. Her grin was audible. "Yes, Sir."

They still did not look at each other. They both laid on their deck chairs half asleep with closed eyes and grinned but Barbara decided to try calling him by his given name from that moment on. That is after they would have heaved themselves from the comfortable veranda lounges in the shadow of that huge chestnut tree later and picked up their exhausting work again.

Well, in fact she already knew she would completely avoid adressing him directly.

The break was relaxing and so they were able to restart digging with a lot more energy afterwards.

* * *

A little later Tommy scrutinised the sky.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but has it turned cooler?" he paused wiping the sweat from his forehead. Although he was sweating there only was a patch of wet cloth on his chest and on his back. It was not like yesterday when his complete shirt had been soaked.

Barbara also stopped fiddling around with a root near the plot boundary and got up. Oblivious to the temptation her own clinging T-shirt presented to his eyes she stretched her back and gyrated her hips to relax her muscles and bones. Her eyes also were facing the sky now so she did not see Tommy's approving eyes wander across her body.

"The weather forecast said it'd be raining tomorrow." There were a few clouds already. Still it was rather warm, all the more with their hard work, and the sweat still ran down her neck. She slowly wiped a hand across her throat. A squeaking harrumph was heard and so Barbara returned her eyes to him. "I'd say the sky's already getting misty over there."

"Mhm." He nodded. With full force his spade suddenly was rammed into the ground and Tommy removed more soil from under one of the last bigger roots. He did not look at her nor into the sky but focussed his attention on the ground. Barbara's expression turned confused. "Then let's get going." he said almost grimly without looking up.

* * *

It was not the worst of ideas. Half an hour later a soft breeze came up and then turned into a light wind. That light change of weather still was refreshing but more clouds had started to cover the azure quite a while ago and these clouds were even darkening more. In the distance a thunderstorm was heard but although the bad weather front had passed them too there was no such thing as severe weather in Belgravia.

Tommy and Barbara were silently digging and chopping. They knew that they should hurry to finish their work before the rain would come. And it surely would come whilst until now there still was not a single drop falling on the dry earth in his garden.

"I wonder if we get this done in time." Tommy tossed a bundle of smaller roots onto the pile.

"You mean before it's raining?" Barbara emptied another wheelbarrow full of soil onto the small hill.

He nodded. "There are only these three gigantic roots which worry me and of course that weird mesh over there."

"I think we should start with the mesh. If it's getting wet the soil will turn heavy and it wouldn't be handle... umm... able... err... manageable." Barbara had tripped over her tongue and chuckled.

"Handle-able? Is that a word?" he laughed poking fun at her about the ridiculous slip.

"Yes, a new one. I've invented it." she answered amused and stuck out her tongue at him. "Meaning easy to handle. But I thought that was obvious, Sir."

"What's my name, Sergeant?"

"Tommy, Sir."

Her grin was so cheeky he playfully threw a small piece of roots at her with a laugh. Of course he did not intend to hit her so it landed at her feet. They both laughed at each other but a sudden desire to kiss him right now pierced its way through her mind. Actually she would rather push him down onto the grass and roll around snogging him breathless and that idea caused the grin that was left on her face beginning to hurt. As if he was reading her mind his own smile was slowly dying but their eyes still were locked.

It made her nervous and so Barbara ripped her eyes from his and looked to the ground. "We should better start quickly." she quietly said. She was not sure if she was meaning the work or the snog on the ground.

His voice was breathy when he agreed. "Indeed, we should."

* * *

In the end that mesh of roots was easier to handle than they thought. They just deeply cut it into squares with their spades, which was an exhausting work for sure, and then ripped it out of the ground in pieces. The earth-encrusted stuff was stored away on a new pile. They finished removing the mesh when the first drop of rain hit Barbara's cheek.

She kept it to herself but when they were pulling at a large root together she saw him secretly wiping one from his nose.

"Tommy, it starts to rai-hahahaha!" She broke into a fit of laughter because Tommy suddenly had flopped onto his bottom. Barbara held out a hand to him. "Oh, sorry, Sir. Here, let me help you up."

She could not know that it was her adressing him that had made him be unmindful for a surprised second. And when the piece of wood they had been pulling at together suddenly had slipped free he had been unable to take the necessary balancing step backwards so now he sat on the ground with a confused and shocked expression. The sight was priceless.

His ears had turned on a deep red colour but he still kept hold onto her hand after she had helped him get on his feet again and he moved dangerously close. Tommy lowered his head to hers.

"That's not funny, Barbara." he quietly growled into her left ear. This time it was Barbara's turn to almost sink down to the ground. Her left side had gotten goosepimples all over and her knees had gone weak. To her great relief he finally let go of her hand and stepped towards the root on the floor to throw it towards the others. "We have to hurry before the rain gets heavier." he said making himself busy with the next task.

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	6. Chapter 6

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Fortunately the weather showed mercy with them. Only a few drops of rain fell down and so they were able to dig out another few big roots and even the skeleton of a rat.

"Ugh! How disgusting!" Barbara screwed up her nose. "And here I am thinking these beasts only live in Chalk Farm. So this one here surely had had a gorgeous life living on caviar and other delicacies."

"Well, we're in the middle of London, Barbara. Of course there are rats, even in Belgravia. All the more in a thick shrubbery like this here was. I'm just happy it's dead already."

The image of rats running out of the bushes made Barbara shiver in horror. "Do you have many of these, Sir? ...Tommy? Living their luxurious lifes in your basement perhaps?" She knew there were not. She clearly was teasing him.

"Of course not!" His indignation was genuine.

"See? That's the difference. You surely meet one or two... hundred of his fellas around the outside wheelie bins in my neighbourhood. The blessings of our unattended council houses-"

"Barbara!" Tommy cut her short and let the pickaxe fall onto the biggest of the roots. He painfully glared at her. "Could we simply keep politics out of this garden? I'm not going to let our pleasant afternoon get disturbed by what the government is doing. Or not doing. Or what the differences are. Let's just get on here."

"Yeah." She pouted. Carefully Barbara placed the little skull on the table under the chestnut tree and turned back towards her boss. "Just sayin'..."

He already smiled again. "And it really is a wonderful afternoon, isn't it. Despite these bloody roots and rats."

Barbara nodded. He was right. And she really was happy to be here with him. She would not want to be anywhere else but in his garden at the moment. Despite the bloody differences between her home and his.

* * *

And so they went on working. While Tommy still plugged away at that big root Barbara fought with the smaller ones. Although it still was warm it eventually had started to really rain. Thick soft drops of rather warm water poured down on them and soaked their clothes. It also soaked the ground with water. It had turned soft and muddy and moving any of the heavy soil was hard work. Every time one of the roots was pulled out of the ground it gave a squishing sound.

Their teasing had stopped. Lynley obviously was not going to give up his fight with the offset of that huge evil root. His lips were pressed tightly and there was a grim expression on his face. Feeling safe while he concentrated on his task Barbara though was not very secretly admiring the sight of him, totally ignoring that her own T-shirt probably was clinging to her body like Tommy's was to his. His wet hair had gone out of its tamed shape and even had started to curl a bit. It gave him quite a bit of a rough boy's air. The lock of hair hung over his face and every time he pushed it back or when he tried to keep the rain from running into his eyes his dirty hands left a trace of mud on his forehead.

He looked rather savage. The muscles of his hard working arms were constantly moving and he was panting hard.

Barbara swallowed multiple times. Although she had her own tasks to do she could not help but be aware of the man next to her having such a masculine appearance today. Indecent thoughts filled her mind and the only thing that kept her from fleeing his garden in horror of her own naughty mind was the fact that it would be even more awkward to explain the reason.

* * *

[SPLASH]

"Tommy!" Barbara cried out in shock. His pickaxe had missed the wood and had landed in the mud next to him. Accidentally he had hit her shoulder with a bit of flying dirt.

"Oh. I'm sorry Barbara." Tommy apologised turning towards her. "I've just- Hey!"

In revenge Barbara had drilled the tip of her boot into the muddy ground and had kicked a lump of wet earth onto his thigh. She laughed really hard until he took that sticky piece from his leg and threw it back at her. It landed on her upper arm with a sloshing sound.

"You want war, Tommy?" she asked with a grin and picked up a handful of dirt. "Well, you can have war!"

Just because he had jumped to the side as quick as a fox Barbara missed him. And so she bent down again to pick up another handful. Like a silly girl she shrieked when his load of dirt had hit her bottom in that unguarded moment. When she turned she saw him grabbing another hand full of mud so she quickly ran to the other side.

A lot of laughter accompanied their little war game until Barbara suddenly fell over the huge wayward root. Her misfortune rang in peace between them. With one knee on the wood Tommy bent over and helped her up keeping her hand in his for longer than necessary. For several seconds they stared into each other's eyes. He still held her hand but did not say a word. There still was amusement in his eyes although it barely hid something else Barbara dared not decipher. It automatically drew her towards him and out of the desire to be close to the wonderfully silly, savage and soft man she made a step forward.

* * *

"Ouch!" she cried out in pain and jumped backwards. An upright branch of that stupid root had pricked her thigh just above her knee. Their hands separated. "Bloody root!" Barbara bellowed.

"Let's finally kill it." Tommy croaked quickly making himself busy with the disruptive piece of wood. "The small axe wasn't doing any great damage at all but I somehow was able to chop a notch with the pickaxe here. It's sufficiently far into the grass field for the works at the pavilion so I guess I'll remove the rest later."

"Your poor posh lawn." Tender sarcasm was dripping from her words. She still tried to rub away the pain in her thigh.

"I don't care about that, Barbara. It's mossy anyway. When the pavilion-"

"Yeah, yeah." Barbara cut him short. She just had wanted to tease him with the delicate green but he did not bite so it was no fun to go on with it. "Now, what's with the root, Sir?"

"We'll just chip it off here, _Sergeant_." Tommy was about to explain but because of their little banter their eyes locked again and so he fell silent. With the back of her hand she had wiped a strand of wet hair behind her ear and it completely had put him off his stride when she watched him expectantly. There still was amusement in her eyes and she knew she could not hide the fondness she felt about their teasing with their names. "I..." he went on and swallowed.

"Yes?" The softness of her voice even surprised Barbara. She deeply blushed.

And he ripped his eyes from her uncertain smile. "I thought, we'll just turn and twist it towards the side until it will break off. That small axe is too blunt to use it here."

"Okay." She sighed. The weird sizzling moment was gone. Not even the accidental touch of their hands when they grabbed the root and pulled it over made it return. Barbara just chose to ignore it and focus on what had to be done here.

* * *

The big root turned out to be more insubordinate than they had thought. While the rain became stronger the two Detective Gardeners were pulling and pushing hard at the restive lever of wood. In an unobserved moment his hands slipped higher and bumped into hers with too much speed thus making Barbara lose her firm grip too. The wood slipped through both of their hands so quickly that Barbara was glad that they had their working gloves on or otherwise it would have earned them a lot of splinters and scratches in their hands now. The sudden loss of back pull force though made them both lose their balance. Together they fell backwards into the mud. To top it all the root simply flew back into its original position and whipped into the muddy ground on the other side with a big splash.

They were almost completely covered in dirt. Barbara looked at Tommy and he looked back at her similarly shocked for a brief moment. She began to grin. It made the corners of his lips turn up too. In a bit they were laughing hard. She fell onto her back not caring that she laid on pure wet grass, covered with a layer of mud from all the earth that had been carried across it. When he joined her on the floor they still were laughing loud.

"Oh, Tommy!" she laughed until tears rolled down her face and mingled with the rain. She nudged her elbow into his ribcage and simply felt wonderful. After his amusement had ebbed he propped himself onto an elbow and grinned directly into her face. Barbara turned her head, her body still shaking with chuckles.

"That was the best idea I've ever had, Barbara." Tommy mumbled softly squeezing her hand that was leisurely lying on her belly.

Barbara suddenly became nervous and her grin died. "Instead of buying these fashionable things you should've bought a chainsaw, Sir." Tommy groaned and rolled his eyes so she added a quiet "Tommy."

They were happily lying on the ground completely ignoring the rain on their faces and the mud in their backs and with a sigh Barbara closed her eyes. This was a weirdly perfect moment and she would not want it to end at all. There was no way he could not kiss her now, she thought, and expected to feel his arm around her waist and his lips on hers.

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	7. Chapter 7

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It was _the_ perfect moment and Barbara gave in to the thrill that she would feel his lips on hers soon. But to her regret Tommy did nothing like that.

"Oh, Barbara!" he exclaimed squeezing her hand again. "Why haven't you said something earlier?"

Then, instead of taking advantage of the hilarious but romantic moment in the sludge, he suddenly jumped up and stormed into the little shed near the veranda. He only briefly hesitated asking himself what the heck he was doing, or rather not doing, when he heard Barbara's quiet groan. All her muscles had been expectantly strained. Disappointed she relaxed now and she was very angry with herself. How could she have thought about anything romantic.

"There is one in here!" His voice was heard from inside the shed. A motor revved and her boss returned waving the running chainsaw through the air.

Meanwhile Barbara had left the spot on the floor, now not so romantic when she had been lying alone there, and watched him approaching. Everything inside her screamed to run away and hide in shame or at least stop thinking about her silly misinterpretations of the moment before. There was no sizzling between them, she tried to convince herself. There was just her stupidly romantic soul that could not understand that it was no mutual emotion. He would never see anything else in her but his best friend with whom he could have a lot of fun but there simply was nothing more to it. To cover up her embarrassment Barbara shivered in mock horror. She forced herself to play along on the funny side of this but her grin was not real at all.

* * *

"Be careful." Her warning still was too fond again. In truth she just loved the sight of the muddy but oh so masculine looking Tommy with the chainsaw so her disappointment already was vanishing. With a huge grin the big boy was cutting off the end of the stubborn root with just one small incision. After the first one all the other roots that had been too thick to cut off with their spades or with the pickaxe were removed quite fast.

"Why was I such an idiot?" Tommy asked with a boyish grin. Barbara was thinking something similar. Only his pure, almost childish joy was so heart-warming she already fell for him again. "It was there all the time. I should've remembered it earlier. It would have saved us a lot of hard labour."

Barbara piled up the wood a few yards away from him and muttered to herself that it would have saved them a lot of embarrassment. "And a lot of wonderful moments."

"What?"

"Nothing." she sighed and forced a smile back into her face.

With the help of that hellish machine it was a piece of cake and they finished their work rather quickly. It was a good thing because the rain eventually had turned cooler. They only put the last pieces of wood onto the pile of the other roots and finally rushed inside.

They were soaking wet, a bit chilled, completely exhausted and covered in mud from head to toe. And despite all that they were inexplicably happy.

* * *

"Did you bring spare clothes with you?" Tommy asked turned away from her while he closed the door to the veranda.

Barbara stood in the middle of his living room on the thick black foil, liquid dirt forming a puddle at her feet. She still was dripping wet and had started to feel cold. It was not just from the wetness.

"Yes." she replied. "But just a T-shirt. I wasn't expecting rain today. It was announced for tomorrow afternoon. I really should head home quickly."

She watched his back. Tommy did not turn for several moments. He kept his hand lying at the frame of the glass door and looked outside. "Why don't you stay?" he offered. Was there hope in his voice, Barbara wondered. "You could use my washing machine and the tumble dryer."

After a deep breath he turned around. His face was openly smiling but also displayed the hint of a cautious hope for something else. It made Barbara forget her resolutions to ignore her feelings and the confusing signs. She shrugged. She had no plans for the evening so she could as well stay here with him.

"You shouldn't ruin your car seats anyway." Tommy explained. "Being so dirty..."

"Says the pot to the kettle." She sized him up with a broad grin. Barbara hoped her voice was not trembling too much.

"You could have a shower while your clothes dry. And there's a bathrobe in the spare room." The blush that his suggestion had brought onto Barbara's face almost was not visible under all the layers of dirt. A shower certainly sounded alluring. "A long hot shower, as long as you want. Washing away the dirt and bringing back the heat into your frozen bones. How about that?"

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The prospect of that shower instantly had called her lower instincts. They could share, she suddenly thought and blushed a bit more. And if she would not be sure her eyes still were betraying her she would have said that he was thinking of something similar. His ears had taken on a deep red colour.

"Sounds good." Barbara's voice was hoarse and she had to swallow.

Much to her surprise Tommy boldly stepped closer. "We could have a drink afterwards," he suggested. "hot or cold. It's your choice. And then relax here on the sofa. Maybe some telly. And later we could order a pizza or eat the leftovers from lunch. Although, now that I say it... We forgot them in the rain."

Barbara nervously laughed out. "Pizza would be fine."

"I thought as much." He affectionately smiled. "And I'd happily give your sore back a nice massage."

She quickly harrumphed. Barbara thought that she even would spend the night here if only Tommy would ask. She just had to make sure that her clothes never would dry. A massage from his strong hands sounded too alluring and if her clothes still would be in the dryer she would be able to feel his hands on her bare skin for hours.

"But before you'll sit on that white sofa of mine I definitely need to have you cleaned from that mud."

Her eyes briefly narrowed. Induced by his words Barbara's thoughts had turned unmentionable. "Sounds good." she repeated and almost choked on her words. Their gaze was locked. For a few deep breaths they simply looked at each other in silence.

Then Tommy raised his hand to her cheek and gently wiped some of the mud with his thumb but he only smeared it more and it made him smile. "Your face is as dirty as my mind." he whispered.

"Dirty?" she asked voiceless. His warm hand stayed on her neck. Now! she thought, now! Oh, please!

Barbara only wanted him to kiss her right now and that mind-filling thought frightened her a lot. His words did that too.

"You know, when I watched you working in my garden yesterday, sweat trickling down your neck and your throat and your..." Eyes briefly flicking to her chest Tommy hesitated and deeply breathed. "With your T-shirt clinging to your heated... chest... and then today with that wonderfully warm rain soaking it until it... revealed every... delicate curve..."

"Sir..." Her voice almost was inaudible and her knees barely kept her upright. The gentle way he described the gorgeous view he had had on her and the memory of the similar view she had had on him was hitting her core and this moment right now unexpectantly appeared to be truly going somewhere she never thought would be possible. There had been too many missed opportunities today not to be highly excited by now.

* * *

"...and all these sizzling moments today. I don't feel bad that I was glad that Nkata had to be busy elsewhere." Tommy admitted. "Not the slightest, to be honest. We've had so much fun today. And it was... at least in my opinion... somehow... romantic?"

The tremble in his voice was real. He actually was a tad uncertain and it made Barbara even more nervous. She looked to the ground but he lifted her chin with a crooked finger of his muddy hand.

"Didn't you feel it too?" he quietly asked. "Or was I right to push aside all these thoughts I had during the previous days? More than once I thought I'd see more in your eyes than just friendly emotions and joy about our hard garden work but then again I was sure my mind was playing tricks on me. I felt I'd only read too much into the looks you gave me and that the sizzling tension between us was pure fantasy. _My_ pure fantasy, born out of a deeply rooted emotion I never thought could be possible. So I told myself it was just wishful thinking and me mixing up my feelings again. You know I'm rather experienced in confusing friendship with..." Tommy briefly looked to the side with an insecure expression before he went on speaking too fast. His hand still laid on her shoulder and his thumb caressed her neck. "I felt ashamed to allow such a... naughty longing for my Sergeant. But it was there, wasn't it? There's an unresolved tension and you do feel it too, don't you? Please tell me that I'm not making a fool of myself here right now."

* * *

Tommy furrowed his brow. It was anger about his stupid little speech that made no real sense even for his own ears. And it was so clumsy he did not recognise himself. He had found eloquent impromptu words when he was forced to pledge a toast in the presence of the Prince of Wales one day but when it came to a simple declaration of love he turned into a stuttering idiot talking about sexual tension with the shy and sensitive woman when they had not even kissed yet. He still was not even totally sure that she felt the same. Tommy made another small step towards Barbara and watched the tornado of emotions on her face.

She only nodded. He gained courage.

"And all the time while we were getting dirtier in the mud I was thinking of a much needed shower." he murmured defeatedly watching himself kicking over board his resolutions to be more eloquent and careful. "A cold one, alone," His voice turned husky again. "Or a pleasantly hot shower... with you."

"Tommy!" It was no reproach, it was not deprecating. It was soft and surrendering and laden with desire. Barbara's hand tentatively went to his waist, her breathing was shallow, her heart was racing and because Tommy still was not showing any signs to finally do so all she could think of was "Kiss me."

And then his eyes lit up, his entire face turned into a broad smile and Barbara realised she had said her wish aloud. Before she could blush deeper Tommy bent down to her lips and finally showed her what he really had tried to tell her with too many bot very eloquent words.

Her eagerly responding lips were telling him the same.

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	8. Chapter 8

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 **Epilogue**

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It was near the end of August. It had been and still was a sunny and hot summer. No rain had been announced in the weather reports for days so it was the perfect evening for a garden party before DI Lynley and DI Havers would finally have a week off duty. Tommy had planned to take her to Cornwall and exclude the world. They were equal partners for six weeks and behind them laid a busy time of severe staff shortage at the Met during the summer holidays. When she would return, the Chief Superintendent had told her, she finally would get her own team.

It would split up their cooperation and it probably was what Ardery had wanted to see for years. If she had known their secret it probably would have happened earlier and with fully fledged scandal at that. But Barbara and Tommy had kept their relationship hidden very well. Only once it almost had been unveiled when they had thought they were alone at the office and had had an argument why she had to surprise him and had not said earlier that she had passed the first formalities to become a DI more than half a year ago already.

After admitting that she had not wanted to be separated from him but now thought he would want to publicise their relationship as much as she would want that so they might be splitted anyway but still would have each other in private... She had lost her track of speech and had stopped talking and he had glared at her and out of the blue he had pulled her into his arms, desperately growled "Oh, I love you!" and then he had fiercely kissed her. Nkata had dropped by in that moment but the couple had dashed apart in time. The constable had looked confused and obviously only had heard but not understood a word of their argument, neither had he realised that they had had swollen lips and ruffled hair and both a stupid grin in their faces.

* * *

With the best of valuations and the good results from a decade of work with Lynley Barbara only had put in her application and her promotion could not be denied. From the day after her successful final exam Tommy and Barbara had begun to openly show little signs of affection. With amusement Barbara still remembered the moment when she had called him _Tommy_ for the first time in public.

They had been all but alone in the open plan office. He had teased her about her new rank and that her desk still was here and not in one of the smaller rooms. Barbara had answered that he should mind his words and be prepared for the moment she would capture his one day. "You will see, Tommy."

Then they both had laughed hard while Nkata was picking up the spread manila folders from the floor in anger. He had pushed off a pile from his desk and it had fallen to the ground when he had jerked hearing her calling the boss by his given name so easily.

Later that day they had decided on finally making their private relationship official on a garden party.

Still they had managed to keep it a secret and so today it was officially Tommy's party and not theirs although Barbara had helped him prepare it of course. To top it all she even had arrived later than the official start. It had not been deliberate but somebody had detained her at work and it had stalled her own preparations. Tommy could not say that he was not pleased with the results.

* * *

Tonight Barbara was not the only one who looked stunning. The garden also was some sight to see.

Several flickering torches stood along the walls to the other gardens except for where the small two-seater bench stood next to the recuperated rose bush. The veranda was illuminated by dozens of candles in antique marmelade glasses. Strings of coloured lights hung from the branches of the chestnut tree to the veranda, the walls and the new pavillion. It was a slightly asymetric open building made of light coloured wood with a deck made of darker wood in two different nuances. Draped in a bed of pebbles around it there was a huge root prominently displayed. It was cleaned from soil and polished and appeared as if it was a piece of art. The grass around the new building looked verdurous not because Tommy had cared for it during the previous hot weeks but because he simply had carpeted it with rolled sod one happy afternoon with the help of Barbara.

On that two-coloured deck people had the chance to shake a leg there. High tables and the teak wood deckchairs were strategically placed in his lawn and to the side opposite to the romantic rose bench stood a cart grill and a buffet table, cared for by one chef and two helpers.

The music that was played was rather modern and trendy, and it was completely different to what DC Nkata, who never had been to one of his functions before, had expected and it also was different to what Tommy's mother Daze knew from his previous parties. It was anything but the unobtrusive background jazz music he used to have played. Daze also wondered about the barbecue. Of course she had attended more than one barbecue party by her son but here they had no posh seafood or poultry or nibbles with caviar. The chef offered hearty steaks and bratwurst and you could pick from a variety of bread, sauces and salads yourself.

* * *

What confused her the most was the way the drinks were served. Or rather not served, because the beer was offered in two fridges. It came in bottles and when you wanted to have another glass, that is if you were using a glass at all, you had to help yourself. It was the same with the champagne she was sipping at. There was just a huge silver bowl with ice and the bottles in it and obviously most of the people were using the same glass more than once and simply refilled them on their own. There were no servants walking around like there usually were when half of the family was invited. Also a lot of other people were there she did not know. They probably were colleagues and friends from London.

Although on her invitation she was told to come dressed casually she could easily tell apart the Lynley related from the others. Only her son looked different to what their lot usually would describe as casual. Tommy was more than leisurely clad in dark jeans and a light shirt with rolled up sleeves. He did not wear a tie and even his hair was unusually untamed. Daze wondered and wondered and wondered about everything but finally a hope rose that maybe he was slowly giving in to his emotions for Barbara. The mixed guests could be an indicator that he might want to make this event comfortable just for her.

Daze chuckled. She always had suspected there was something happening between her son and his newly promoted colleague which was deeper than just friendship. Tommy's mother always had liked her refreshingly natural behaviour and thought Barbara would do him good not thinking much of his title and money. Now with her rank at the Met not being an obstacle anymore it definitely looked as if there definitely was happening something between Tommy and Barbara, and it seemed to happen right now. It was obvious that Barbara loved Tommy more than a sister loved her brother. Every time she looked at him her eyes turned soft. He must recognise it, Daze thought, and surely he did because he always answered Barbara's looks with a smile and they were almost entirely close to each other all evening.

If she finally had the chance to speak to him alone Daze planned to bring up that certain topic tonight. Carefully, of course, because she knew her son and one wrong word could make him close his mind completely. Their own mother and son relationship still was too fragile and talking about Barbara could be the final spark or a total disaster.

* * *

As if on cue Barbara gave one of her loud boisterous laughs. Daze saw her standing at one of the fridges talking with Tommy and she recognised his hand on her back. Daze narrowed her eyes. Was he really caressing Barbara's nape with his thumb? Barbara's skin was slightly flushing before she stepped to the side with a shy smile.

She was not the only one watching that scene. At the buffet Winston Nkata and Stuart Lafferty were just discussing how great this party was and that there obviously was a touch of Barbara's down-to-earth hands in it.

"She's definitely helped him. And she's definitely had a word about the guest list, I bet." Winnie said.

Stuart nodded towards the couple at the fridge. "And I bet she's staying here with him tonight."

"Stu!" his wife Annabel scolded him.

"What? Just look at them. Look at her! She's dressed up so nicely and it's definitely not for me or Winnie or DS Clarke."

Ignoring his wife's rolled eyes he let his eyes wander across the new DI's figure. Unlike most of the time her clothes were fitting her body perfectly well. Tonight Barbara almost was as elegant as the old Lady on the veranda. Light leather-strap sandals, dark blue sailor pants made of sheer cloth that was slightly too tight over her bottom, which alone was some sight to see, Stuart thought, and a nice white blouse that was showing off a lot of skin around her neck. She even was wearing a thin silver chain with a tiny pendant and her hair obviously had been taken care of today.

"No." Winston agreed with the pathologist. "It's just for Lynley and it obviously works. He only has eyes for her and he's almost killed you with his looks when you've dragged Barb onto the deck to dance with you, Stu."

"They're oblivious to what's happening, aren't they?" Annabel asked.

"Why don't we play Cupid?" Stuart deviously chuckled.

"You're not going to do anything like that, honey." his wife chimed in with all certainty.

"Spoilsport." he snorted.

"I'm not. But what's budding there still is too fragile for your unseemly intervention, my darling, no matter how honourable your intentions are."

Stuart Lafferty sulked and Nkata had to turn away from them to hide his grin. Annabel clearly wears the breeches in that marriage.

* * *

Then suddenly the lights in the pavillion went brighter and the music turned quieter. Lynley raised his glass and clinked a knife at it to silence his guests.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, dear colleagues, friends, family..." he started. He thanked everyone who had come here, emphasised how nice the evening had gone so far, hoped it would go on like that and once again congratulated DI Havers on her promotion. She raised her bottle of beer to him and deeply blushing she turned towards his audience to acknowledge the light applause (and Stuart's unseemly interjection).

"And finally I have to announce something. Well, _we_ have to announce something." With that he took Barbara's hand and pulled her into his side. They briefly looked at each other with a mischievous grin, his ears had turned red, her whole face was blushing and when Barbara diverted her eyes to the ground and Tommy's eyes returned to their guests Daze stopped breathing.

"Barbara and I are going to marry."

[CHINKK]

Daze's champagne glass broke into millions of shards on the hard surface of the veranda.

"Holy shit!" That was Nkata.

"Finally!" This came from Angela, Barbara's best friend from childhood days on.

The rest was an approving noise of cheers. Barbara and Tommy exchanged a lovely short kiss before the congratulations marathon began. Tommy stood there with a proudly swelling chest and Barbara in his arm who was happily beaming while they received handshakes from everybody. She acted rather graciously and with surprising patience she even endured a few pecks on her cheek from his cousins.

* * *

Daze had cut her way through the crowd and pulled her son into a close hug. She still was chuffed when she hugged Barbara.

"I haven't recognised that ring the entire evening, Barbara." She almost cried out of sheer happiness. "Oh, I'm so happy for both of you."

"Well, he's just put it on my finger a few minutes ago when he gave me another bottle of beer." Barbara shyly answered.

"Oh, so you just...?" Tears flooded Daze's eyes.

"No, mother, we've _planned_ to make it public tonight. I just had no ring at hand when I've asked her." Tommy grinned. "It's been a rather spontaneous moment three days ago."

Daze did not ask further when she saw another deep blush on Barbara's face and could imagine where that might have happened. "Oh, I'm so happy." she exclaimed again. "And now I need a new glass of champagne." With that she flitted towards the bowl of ice cubes.

"She's completely shaken." Tommy whispered into Barbara's ear. "I haven't seen her so happy in years."

"Well, I haven't seen _you_ so happy in similarly many years, dear brother!" Judith came along. "My best wishes, Barbara. And good luck. You'll need it. Ah, but I guess you know him by now so you know what awaits you."

"Judith!" Tommy kissed his sister's cheek. "Thank you. And please do me the favour not to share every childhood secret with Barbara."

"I will try." she laughed. "Now, will you please excuse me? I have to take care that mother won't cool her excitement with too much of that champgne."

Winking she left them into the hands of Stuart Lafferty.

"Hey, you _have_ to marry, don't you?" the pathologist cheekily asked when it was his turn to offer congratulations. "My best wishes, Barb. You've caught the biggest fish in our aquarium."

He let a naughty laugh follow before he was dragged away from them by his wife. The nudge of her elbow into his rib cage surely had been painful.

Tommy raised a quizzical eyebrow at Barbara but still was smiling happily. Barbara's eyes darted to the side before she almost invisibly shrugged. Her lips formed a nondescript soft smile. She was past due for about three weeks but did not know for certain because she had not dared to check. And she had not said a word to him until now.

* * *

Another group of felicitators came by but Tommy's thoughts had gone back to a certain evening in the new pavillion. A lovely evening that had turned into a wonderful night which had turned into a glorious morning. They had had a romantic dinner there that evening and had stayed outside for a little bit longer watching the stars and eventually they had made love on a blanket spread out on the wooden floor, not caring about neighbours, not caring about the hard surface, not caring about anything. And not caring about contraception for one single moment. They had made love almost the entire night and when the sun had sent its first tentative rays into the pastel-coloured sky they had had one final moment of heavenly bliss.

His mind still at that gorgeous night Tommy kept on staring at Barbara while uncle Jonah shook his hand and friendly slapped his shoulder.

When he was gone Tommy bent down to Barbara and quietly asked "Well, _do_ we have to?"

Even though they had talked with other people after Stuart's cheeky remark Barbara knew exactly what he was referring to.

"Could be..." she hesitantly answered. Somehow she had come to terms with a future with him but she still was not sure what she should think about the possibility that she could be having a baby. With DI Lynley, the eighth Earl of Asherton.

She had no reason to be afraid at all. He did not care if they _had_ to marry or not. They had waited too long with everything so why not have it all right now, he thought. Barbara was going to be his countess and by her vague confirmation his face had lit up in overwhelming joy. So now he swiftly pulled her into his arms and without caring about anything but the woman in his arms Tommy kissed her senseless in front of everybody's eyes.

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 **A/N:** Thanks for reading, thanks for your reviews. **Tess**


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